StarCraft II: World Championship Series 2018 Circuit Event
WCS Leipzig Rules
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Welcome!
Congratulations and welcome to the 2018 StarCraft II: WCS Circuit!
We are very excited for the season of WCS play ahead of us and would like to use this opportunity to thank you for your continuous passion and support for esports.
To start, please familiarize yourself with the general WCS Circuit rules, found here. These general rules cover the WCS as a whole, and apply to all events.
The Event-specific rule set, detailed below, will provide you with specific guidelines on how WCS Leipzig will run, and how you will need to prepare for your matches.
We will strive to provide a very fair and transparent environment for you to compete in, so that you can feel comfortable and give your best performance. Please feel free to ask our tournament administration team if you need any help!
GL & HF!
Blizzard Entertainment
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Table of Contents
1. Player Responsibility ...... 4
1.1 Code of Conduct...... 4
1.2 Dress Code ...... 4
1.3 Personal Equipment ...... 5
1.4 Drugs and Alcohol ...... 5
1.5 Cheating and Collusion ...... 5
1.6 Providing Information ...... 5
1.7 Promotional Obligations ...... 5
2. Tournament Eligibility, Information, and Prizing ...... 6
2.1 WCS Circuit Event Eligibility ...... 6
2.2 Open Tournament Format ...... 6
2.3 Bracket Stage Format ...... 7
2.4 Bracket Seeding...... 7
2.5 Prizes ...... 8
2.6 Prize Claiming ...... 8
3. General Tournament Rules and Operations ...... 9
3.1 Map Pool ...... 9
3.2 Map Selection Procedure ...... 9
3.3 Equipment and Settings ...... 10
3.4 Match Rules ...... 11
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3.5 Match Offenses ...... 12
3.5 Additional Rules ...... 13
4. General Event Information ...... 14
4.1 Prize Awards ...... 14
5. Closing Note ...... 15
World Championship Series Circuit Events
Welcome to the WCS! StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) Circuit Events are global, offline events in which 80 players compete across 3 group stages and a top-16 bracket stage to win prizes and points in the StarCraft II WCS Global standings. These points are used to determine standings in the WCS Circuit, and at the end of the year top players may earn an invite to the WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon!
In 2018, the planned WCS Circuit Events are WCS Leipzig, WCS Austin, WCS Valencia, and WCS Montreal. Each of these tournaments take place at an associated DreamHack event. Information on DreamHack and specific DreamHack events can be found here.
This document will help players understand the rules and tournament format used at WCS Leipzig in 2018.
1. Player Responsibility
1.1 Code of Conduct All players who are participating in the 2018 StarCraft II: WCS agree to behave in an appropriate and respectful manner towards other players, spectators, media, the press and the tournament administration team. Likewise, all players will be treated and respected equally as professionals by the tournament staff.
1.2 Dress Code During the tournament, it is preferred that players wear their team or clan uniform. Please make sure none of your sponsors are in conflict with Blizzard Entertainment and the tournament organizer’s general policies – should this be the case, we may ask you to wear generic shirts supplied by Blizzard Entertainment and/or the tournament organizer.
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1.3 Personal Equipment Tournament organizer will provide all players with standard hardware such as a computer and a monitor to use in the tournament. In addition, a basic keyboard, mouse, and mouse pad will be provided when requested. However, a player may bring their own personal keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, mouse cord holder and headset as they prefer. Basic drivers will be available on all computers provided by the tournament organizer. If a specific driver is required for any personal equipment, please bring it to the venue on an USB drive and speak to the tournament administration team to scan the USB drive and install the driver.
1.4 Drugs and Alcohol Any drugs, alcohol, or other performance enhancers are strictly prohibited during the entire process of the tournament. The usage of any of these substances will result in exclusion from the tournament and may result in the exclusion from the future tournaments hosted by Blizzard Entertainment and the tournament organizer.
1.5 Cheating and Collusion Any sign of cheating or collusion will result in a forfeit of the game and disqualification from the tournament. Additionally, the player may be banned from future tournaments that will be hosted by Blizzard Entertainment and the tournament organizer, and the player may also have all of their licenses to all Blizzard games revoked.
1.6 Providing Information All players should provide necessary and sufficient information including personal information such as name, address, phone number, e-mail address, bank information, as well as a completed and executed IRS form W-8, or W-9, as applicable, for the tournament organizer to be able to contact and to process the prize money payments. Please contact the tournament administrators of a complete list of documentation.
1.7 Promotional Obligations All players should be available for interviews which may be conducted before and/or after each match when necessary, press conferences, and signing sessions when requested by Blizzard Entertainment or tournament organizers.
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2. Tournament Eligibility, Information, and Prizing
2.1 WCS Circuit Event Eligibility Players must meet all eligibility requirements as defined in the official WCS Rules.
In addition to these general rules, players seeking to compete in a specific WCS Circuit Event must:
Meet all age requirements (as per the WCS Rules) by the first day of competition for that Circuit Event
For open participants:
o Have signed up using the appropriate open signup form, found on the DreamHack website here
o Have received an email confirming their slot in the tournament (there are 64 “open” slots, with further signups being placed on a waitlist)
o Have purchased a DreamHack visitor ticket in order to enter the event and play in the tournament
For players seeded through WCS Challenger:
o Have received confirmation from Blizzard on travel and accommodation, and must have provided all necessary identification and travel documents to Blizzard in a timely manner as per Blizzard’s instructions
2.2 Open Tournament Format At a WCS Circuit Event, up to 80 players will be registered to compete. Up to 64 players may sign up for the Open Brackets portion of the tournament. These players will be distributed into sixteen groups of four players each. Each group will be seeded according to the player’s current ranking in the WCS Global standings, found at blizz.ly/WCSStandings, except for WCS Leipzig, where seeding will be based on the previous season’s WCS standings. In the event of a tie, players will be seeded randomly. Each match will be best-of-three, and will follow the double-elimination dual tournament format, with two players advancing from each group.
The 32 players who advance from the round of 64 with again be seeded into groups of four players each. Each of these eight groups will again play a double-elimination, dual tournament format featuring best- of-three matches, with two players advancing from each group.
The 16 players who advance from the second group stage will then be seeded into a third and final group stage, along with the 16 players who qualified for the WCS Circuit event through the WCS Challenger
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series, into eight groups of four players each. Each of these eight groups will consist of two players who qualified through the Challenger series and two players who qualified through the open sign-ups, and each group will again play a double-elimination, dual tournament format featuring best-of-three matches, with two players advancing from each group.
2.3 Bracket Stage Format The bracket stage will consist of the 16 players who advanced from the third and final group stage. These players will be re-seeded into a 16-player bracket. Unlike the group stage, bracket play will be single-elimination, and each match will be best-of-five, except for the Finals, which will be best-of-seven.
2.4 Bracket Seeding For the bracket stage, players will be grouped into two initial columns:
Pool 1 (those who finished first in their group in the round of 32)
Pool 2 (those who finished second in their group in the round of 32)
Players will then be ranked by WCS standing within these groups. The top four players by rank in Pool 1 will be placed in Group 1A. The bottom four players by rank in Pool 1 will be placed in Group 1B. The same is done for the pool of players who finished second in their group, with the top four players being placed in Group 2A and the bottom four being placed into Group 2B. Once this is done:
Each player from Group 1A is matched randomly against a player from group 2B
o Exception: Players will not be matched against opponents from their Round of 32 pool in the Round of 16 bracket
Each player from Group 1B is matched randomly against a player from group 2A
o Exception: Players will not be matched against opponents from their Round of 32 pool in the Round of 16 bracket
The overall bracket is then arranged based on seeding for players in Pool 1
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2.5 Prizes Players who participate in the WCS Circuit Event compete to earn the following prizes in USD. The winner of each WCS Circuit Event will also earn an automatic invite to the WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon. More information about the WCS Global Finals can be found here.
In addition, players will earn the WCS Circuit points indicated in the chart below:
WCS Circuit Prizes
1st Place $20,000 USD 3,000 WCS Points
2nd Place $10,000 USD 1,400 WCS Points
3rd – 4th Places $6,500 USD 900 WCS Points
5th – 8th Places $4,000 USD 600 WCS Points
9th – 16th Places $2,750 USD 300 WCS Points
16th – 32nd Places $1,250 USD 100 WCS Points
Points earned will contribute toward player standings in the 2018 WCS Circuit and may be tracked at https://wcs.starcraft2.com/en-us/standings/. Players who finish near the top of the standings may earn an invite to the WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon at the end of the WCS season.
2.6 Prize Claiming
Upon finishing in the top 32, players must provide the tournament administration team with full contact information to ensure that prize claims may be made.
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3. General Tournament Rules and Operations
3.1 Map Pool All maps will be the Blizzard Ladder Map official version, and will use the current season’s maps. Click here for the latest on maps and other StarCraft II news.
Below are the maps for WCS Leipzig:
Abiogenesis LE Backwater LE Acid Plant LE Eastwatch LE Blackpink LE Neon Violet Square LE Catalyst LE
3.2 Map Selection Procedure In all matches, a map veto (removal and pick) procedure is used. The higher seeded player must choose to act as Player A or Player B.
In group play, the higher seeded player will be determined by their placements in the current year’s WCS Standings. Exception: For the first WCS Circuit event of the year, the prior year’s WCS standings will be used for seeding.
In the bracket portion of the tournament (Round of 16), the player who placed first in their group in the final group stage (Round of 32) will have a higher seed over their opponent, who will have placed second based on the seeding rules.
Best-of-3
For all Best-of-3 games matches, Player A must veto one map first, then Player B must veto two maps, and then Player A must veto one more map. The vetoed maps will not be played in the match. Player B must choose the game 1 map and then Player A must choose the game 2 map. The game 3 map will be the map that hasn’t been chosen or vetoed.
Best-of-5
For all Best-of-5 games matches, Player A must veto one map first and then Player B must veto one map. The vetoed maps will not be played in the match. Next, the players must alternate choosing each game’s map, starting with Player A choosing the game 1 map. The game 5 map will be the map that hasn’t been vetoed or chosen for games 1-4.
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Best-of-7
For all Best-of-7 games matches, there will be no vetoes. Players must alternate choosing each game’s map, starting with Player A choosing the game 1 Map.
3.3 Equipment and Settings Equipment: Players must use the computer and monitor provided by the organizer Players may provide their own mouse. The mouse must use an USB connection and tournament organizers must be notified if it does not use preinstalled windows drivers Players may provide their own keyboard. The keyboard must use an USB connection and tournament organizers must be notified if it does not use preinstalled windows drivers Players must use the organizer headset while playing in all on-stage matches unless otherwise directed by the organizer The organizer may allow specialized USB drivers at their discretion The organizer reserves the right to deny the use of any equipment suspected of providing an unfair competitive advantage Players must use the Battle.net account provided by tournament administrators for the duration of the tournament. Player ID’s must match those of their public persona and be pre-approved by tournament administrators Players must use the same Battle.net account throughout the tournament
Computer Settings: No other programs may be installed without approval of the organizer During a match, no other applications, browsers, or streams other than the game should be open; the organizer may inspect a machine before a live match o Specific exceptions may be made by the tournament Administrators Players may not alter game files or modify drivers without approval of the organizer Video settings may only be adjusted under the supervision of the organizer
Game Setting Players must use default unit “skins” - any extra unit “skins” are to be disabled o Should a player be determined to be using a non-default unit skin mid-match, the match should be paused immediately and a tournament administrator notified. The match will then be restarted, UNLESS the non-offending player does not wish to replay the game, in which case the game shall continue as normal
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o Players must pause the game and notify an administrator within 3 minutes of a non- default unit skin first visibly appearing in-game in order to request a regame. Tournament admins will use their discretion to determine whether a player had a reasonable window to notice and report a disallowed skin. o The non-offending player must make the decision whether or not to replay the game at the time of the initial pause. If the non-offending player elects to have the game continue, they forfeit their right to later declare a re-game o The offending player shall be issued a Warning, whether or not the game was restarted o If a player accumulates multiple Warnings, they may be issued a Game Loss, then a Match Loss, then Disqualification from the tournament, at the Administrator’s discretion . Players may also be fined for repeat offenses, at the Administrator’s discretion The “Busy” setting in Battle.net is required to be active Players must turn off notifications Players must disable the “Only allow friends to send me messages” setting must be disabled to allow admins to communicate with them Every player must use full screen or windowed full screen The “Save all replays” setting should always be active Each game must be played in Faster mode Players must join a special Tournament channel given by the admin team at the tournament location No other IM applications or streams are permitted to be running in the background
3.4 Match Rules ● Players must be in the venue at the designated player areas during the tournament ● Players are required to be ready and check in at their game station 30 minutes before the match starts, and complete game preparations including PC setup. Once prepared, the player must notify the tournament administrator ● Players must request permission from a tournament administrator to leave designated player areas during the tournament ● Between games, players may ask the administrator for permission to speak with an advisor(s); if granted, the discussion may not last longer than 2 minutes ● All matches will be played on the Battle.net server determined by the tournament organizer ● Tournament administrators will assign colors to the players for each stage match ● Tournament administrators will host and start the stage matches ● Players may request a blind pick where each player will communicate their race to the tournament administration team before each match starts ● Players may not switch races after each game of a match ● During the game, players may not use chat except for a greeting, closing, and request for pause
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● Players may not pause a game unnecessarily and should it be required, the player must inform their opponent and the tournament administration team immediately in the following manner: 1) type “PP” in the in-game chat, 2) physically raise his or her hand to notify organizers, in the case the keyboard is unresponsive ● Any pauses or stops during the game caused by player negligence is liable to the player and may be subject to a warning, fine, or disqualification ● Players who intentionally quit a game before it has ended without a tournament organizer’s permission will concede the game ● In the case of a technical issue, the tournament organizer may restart the game from the beginning at their discretion ● If any player is disconnected from a game, they are required to wait for a tournament administrator to verify the situation and make one of the following decisions depending on the nature of the disconnect: ○ Restart of the game from the beginning ○ Use “Recover game” option to start from an administrator designated point in time ○ Declare a winner or a forfeit ● In case of the situation where both players are unable to win the game, tournament organizer may declare a draw and the game will be replayed ● In order to dispute any game issue, players must notify their referee immediately. Once the next game has started, players may not protest results. The tournament administration may investigate past results at their discretion ● Players may not watch any replays in the middle of a match. If there are any games that remain in the match, players must rejoin the designated tournament administrator group within 1 minute ● Replays may not be removed or distributed from the tournament computers ● Replays may be reviewed during down time in-between matches if available, as long as this does not cause any delay in the tournament
3.5 Match Offenses ● If a player does not follow any of the rules listed above, the player may receive a warning at the discretion of the tournament organizer ● If a player causes a delay beyond the designated exceptions, the player will receive a warning ● Player misconduct as defined in the player responsibilities will receive a warning at the discretion of the organizer ● The first misconduct warning will carry over throughout the current season ● In a single competition day, if a player receives ○ two (2) warnings will forfeit the next game ○ three (3) warnings will forfeit the next match ○ four (4) warnings will cause a disqualification from the event ● Players may request the status of their total warnings from the organizer
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● Players may, at the discretion of Blizzard, be levied a fine for repeated offences, to be taken from that season’s winnings
3.5 Additional Rules In addition to the official Blizzard Rules listed herein, the tournament partner and administration team may, at their discretion, provide additional rules to players concerning individual WCS Circuit Events
All event-specific rules provided by the tournament administrator must be followed in the same manner as the Blizzard rule set
In the event of rules conflict, contact your tournament Administrator for clarity
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4. General Event Information
4.1 Prize Awards The awarding of prizes is void where prohibited or restricted. No purchase is necessary to participate in the WCS Circuit.
National, state and local taxes, including VAT taxes, which are associated with the receipt or use of any prizes are the sole responsibility of the winner. All cash prizes will be paid in US dollars. Winners will be required to complete and submit to Blizzard all governmental and tax forms required to receive a cash prize, including an IRS form W-8 or W-9 and any other forms required by the country in which live WCS events are held. Additional paperwork that Blizzard requests, including waivers and releases, must be submitted to Blizzard before Blizzard will provide the winner with any prize. Prizes are not transferable. No substitutions or exchanges (including for cash) of any non-cash prizes will be permitted, except that Blizzard reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value for any non-cash prize.
All participants must be verified by Blizzard to ensure their eligibility prior to being declared a winner and/or receiving any prize. Display of statistics in the game (e.g., on a leaderboard) during a game or match does not entitle any participant to a prize.
As a condition of being awarded any prize, winners will be required to execute and deliver to Blizzard a signed affidavit of eligibility and acceptance of these Official Rules and release of liability. In the event that a winner is under the age of majority, the winner’s parent or legal guardian will be required to execute and deliver such documents. Failure to return a signed affidavit within seven (7) days may result in forfeiture of prize. Potential winners are responsible for ensuring return of all required materials; proof of sending will not be considered proof of receipt by Blizzard.
Blizzard will post a list of winners at http://wcs.battle.net/sc2/en/brackets no later than one month after the conclusion of the event. The list will remain available until April 30, 2019.
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5. Closing Note Blizzard Entertainment and the tournament organizer team want every player to have a fun and memorable event. At the same time, please remember that this is a professional competition and we would like to ask that you conduct yourself in a respectful manner at all times during the entire tournament series.
We hope you will enjoy our tournament and wish you a good luck for your matches.
Thank you!
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